Trending News 1 May 2019

ANZ admits to investor loan
mistakes

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott
said his bank had been too cautious in lending to property investors.

“Being more risk averse in the
current environment is prudent,’ said Mr Elliott, “however we could have done a
better job implementing our new risk settings.”

Mr Elliott said ANZ is “taking
steps to improve processes” for homebuyers and investors looking to apply
for loans but he remains worried about families doing it tough. ANZ had
assisted about 500 or 600 families in financial difficulty with loan repayments
in the last six months, a big increase over previous periods.

ANZ reported a profit of $3.56 billion in the first half, up 2 per cent. ANZ’s interim dividend of 80 cents will be fully franked and paid on 1 July 2019.

ANZ reported a profit of $3.56 billion in the first half, up 2 per cent. ANZ’s interim dividend of 80 cents will be fully franked and paid on 1 July 2019. Compare investor home loans here

Buyers bonanza as
prices drop again

Australian capital city property prices fell 0.5 per
cent on average in April and are now down 7.2 per cent over the last 12 months,
according to new data from CoreLogic. Only Canberra bucked the trend and
recorded a rise in property prices of 0.4 per cent for the last month.

CoreLogic's
head of research Tim Lawless said the big price falls of recent months may be
starting to ease.

“Housing
market conditions may have moved through the worst of the downturn,” said Mr
Lawless, “the rate of decline isn't quite as quick as what we've been
seeing over previous months.”

Average home prices in Sydney fell 0.7 per cent in April 2019. Average home prices in Melbourne fell 0.6 per cent in April. Brisbane and Perth home prices fell 0.4 per cent, while Adelaide prices were relatively stable, falling just 0.1 per cent.

The biggest falls in home prices in April were in Hobart (down 0.9 per cent) and Darwin (down 1.2 per cent).

TMB has cut fixed rates by up to 0.23 percentage points for owner-occupiers and up to 0.34 percentage points for investors. Macquarie Bank, ME, HomeStart Finance and Adelaide Bank have also reduced their fixed rates by up to 0.92 percentage points.

Analysts are pointing to easing funding pressures for banks.

How to dump your bank account for a better deal

About 40 per cent of Australians still use the bank account they
were signed up to at school or as a child by mum and dad. If you are one of
these people, you are almost certainly NOT getting the best deal available.

“People
are more likely to get divorced than change banks,” said Dr Nicholls, “It’s a
real issue.”

It’s
an issue because millions of Aussies are paying monthly fees, unnecessary ATM
fees, transaction fees that you don’t need to be paying, or not getting the
latest apps or payment options from their main banking account.

Choice’s
Xavier O'Halloran told ABC that people think changing banks is too much hassle
“but in recent years it has been made easier” because financial institutions
must connect all your direct debits for you.

First,
choose an account that suits you, look for features and fees that suit your
lifestyle, think about how you use your money. Open the new account and fill in
the form to transfer direct debits from your old account.

RBA
likely to cut rates to new record low in May, or June

The
Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to cut official interest rates in May or
June 2019 after weaker than expected inflation data in March.

Currently
the central bank board has the Australian official cash interest rate set at
1.50 per cent, an historically low stimulatory setting that the board has
maintained for almost three years. Cutting the rate to 1.25 per cent would
represent a new record low setting for official cash interest rates in
Australia.

Consumer
prices have not risen in Australia in 2019, according to new CPI data released
last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The official inflation rate
in Australia is 0.0 per cent for the last three months and just 1.3 per cent
over the last 12 months, well under the RBA’s target range of 2 – 3 per cent.

Some
economists have tipped the RBA board to avoid cutting rates in the middle of a
federal election campaign and postpone the announcement of a new record low
setting until June – after election day on 18 May 2019.

What are the new credit card rules?

Aussies are being caught out by new credit card rules that limit
how much credit you can be approved for by applying a new ‘three-year rule’.

The new credit card three-year rule was announced by the Australian
Securities and investment Commission in September 2018 and took effect from the
1 January 2019.

The bank or other credit card issuer must be satisfied that you
could readily repay the entire credit card credit limit within three years. And
they must take into account all your other cards, debts, bills and expenses.

“More
than one in six consumers are struggling with high credit card debt,” reported
ASIC. The industry watchdog has responded to that finding by telling banks and
credit card companies to “take proactive steps to address persistent debt, low
repayments or poorly suited products.”

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Trending Financial News 4 September 2019 September 4, 2019 Sydney and Melbourne lead home price turnaround Average home prices in Australian capital cities rose during August, for the first time since August 2017, according to CoreLogic’s home value index. Sydney and Melbourne home prices led the way, both up by about 1.5 per cent, as average national prices edged…

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Trending Financial News 9 September 2019 September 9, 2019 Westpac takes axe to home loan rates Westpac has entered the home loan rate cutting war by announcing some extraordinary low rates for first home buyers, owner-occupiers and investors. Westpac’s Flexi First Option Home Loan rate discount has been increased from 0.75 per cent to 0.90 per cent, effectively delivering…

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